Yaounde, 15 January 2025 (ECA) - "The development of regional value chains requires an alignment of industrialization frameworks, of which Special Economic Zones are the main tool," said Jean Luc Mastaki, Director of the Economic Commission for Africa's Sub-Regional Office for Central Africa.
In Douala, from January 21 to 23, 2025, ECA, African Union, African Development Bank, UNIDO and UNDP are organizing a "symposium for the successful harmonization of frameworks for the development and operationalization of new-generation special economic zones in Africa". Experts from ECCAS and CEMAC member states and their respective RECs will discuss, together with financial organizations, development partners and the private sector, ways of accelerating the set up of SEZs in Central Africa, as an instrument for inclusive and sustainable industrialization and economic diversification.
Building on previous milestones such as the first joint session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts held in 2022 in Seychelles, the sub-regional Webinar on the challenges and opportunities of new-generation SEZs for economic diversification and industrialization in Central Africa, and studies, the symposium's ultimate aim is to structure a well-understood shared commitment. By way of illustration, it is expected to co-create an inter-agency working group and a robust regional cooperation platform to accelerate the operationalization of industrialization strategies and the implementation of high-potential value chain and new-generation SEZ approaches. Similarly, the symposium is expected to launch work on a joint program to support the sub-region's states in the development and implementation of new generation SEZs, which would contribute to inclusive and sustainable industrialization and other broader economic and social development objectives.
Central Africa is committed to reducing its vulnerability to exogenous shocks, such as inflation, overindebtedness and budget imbalances. To remedy this situation, States and Regional Economic Communities have defined sub-regional and national import-substitution strategies. These strategies, anchored in industrialization plans, should guarantee the successful implementation of the AfCFTA, in line with the commitments made at the extraordinary summit of the African Union in Niamey (Niger) in November 2022.
Media Queries
Zacharie Roger MBARGA - Communications Officer
Sub-Regional Office for Central Africa
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
637, rue 3.069, Quartier du Lac, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Tel: (+237) 222504348
E-mail: zacharie.mbargayene@un.org
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org